Preview: Stockport County vs. Grimsby Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Grimsby Town will be aiming to make it two wins from two on their return to the National League when they head to Stockport County on Tuesday evening.

The visitors picked up a victory in their opening game of the season on Saturday, while Stockport have won one and lost one of their first two games.

Match preview

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Stockport suffered playoff semi-final heartbreak at the end of last season and started the new campaign with a disappointing 3-1 loss at home to Dagenham & Redbridge.

However, the Hatters hit back on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Southend United through John Rooney's first-half strike at Roots Hall.

Rooney nearly added another and Arjan Raikhy also went close, but County will be happy with the narrow win as Ben Hinchliffe had to produce a fine save to deny Jason Demetriou.

Simon Rusk's side now head back to Edgeley Park, though they do not exactly have the best of records there, failing to win any of their last five league matches on home soil.

Grimsby will be looking to prolong Stockport's winless home run when they make the two-hour journey west on Tuesday.

The Mariners dropped back into non-league in April after a five-year stay in the English Football League, and the aim will be to make an immediate return to the fourth tier.

Town are already playing catch up after their opening game of the season against Bromley was postponed due to some confirmed coronavirus cases in their camp.

Paul Hurst's men did manage to make a winning start to their campaign with a 1-0 victory at Weymouth on Saturday, though, thanks to John McAtee's strike 16 minutes from time.

Team News

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The delayed start to Grimsby's campaign was good news for striker Ryan Taylor, who won his race to be fit for the win over Weymouth.

Taylor was one of nine summer signings to make their competitive debuts for the Mariners in that game, with James McKeown and Harry Clifton the only remaining faces from last term.

Hurst is unlikely to tinker with his starting lineup too much in midweek, though Lenell John-Lewis could come into the side in place of Taylor, who is not yet fully fit.

As for Stockport, Scott Quigley and Raikhy will be confident of retaining their places in the side after earning their first-team debuts in the rare away win at Southend.

Jordan Keane, Ash Palmer and Ryan Rydel were also brought into the XI, but Rusk could turn to the likes of Will Collar, Will Fish, Liam Hogan, Tom Walker and Ben Whitfield here.

Stockport County possible starting lineup:
Hinchcliffe; Rydel, Keane, Rooney, Barclay; Palmer, Southam-Hales, Raikhy, Croasdale; Quigley, Madden

Grimsby Town possible starting lineup:
McKeown; Efete, Crookes, Fox, Longe-King; Hunt, Pearson, Esteves Sousa, Clifton; John-Lewis, McAtee

We say: Stockport County 2-2 Grimsby Town

New-look Grimsby made a belated start to their campaign with all three points against Weymouth and were good value for that victory.

It may take time for Town to fully click, however, and we can see last season's beaten playoff semi-finalists Stockport taking a point from this game.